A certain design of gold jewelry known as Black Hills Gold or Black Hills Gold Jewelry is sold throughout the United States and is manufactured in the Black Hills area of South Dakota. Black Hills Gold Jewelry normally consists of a plurality of gold leaves which are secured together in a predetermined pattern on rings, pendants, earrings, etc.
In the normal manufacture of the jewelry, the individual leaves are stamped or punched out of a rectangular strip of gold material. Once the leaves have been stamped from the gold strip, they are assembled on a soldering board and a gold solder paste is applied thereto. Heat is then applied to melt the gold solder paste thereby brazing the parts together. Oxidation does occur with this process and the same is removed by bombing and tumbling. After bombing and tumbling, the jewelry is gold plated and is then sometimes adhered with hot wax to a wooden dowel. This is done to hold the jewelry in place so it can be hand-florentined and hand-engraved.
The individual leaves are hand-florentined by manually placing the leaf into engagement with a "wriggle" machine employing a tool bit which moves in a rocking motion to impart a mat or florentine finish thereto. The florentine process brings out or highlights the red or green color and provides contrast for the bright or vein cuts which will subsequently be created in the leaf. After the individual leaves have been hand-florentined, leaf veins or bright cuts are then hand-engraved therein. The vein cuts are created in the individual leaves by employing a highly polished and sharp tool bit to cut out or engrave grooves in the jewelry leaves with the grooves resembling leaf veins. The above described process is extremely time-consuming and is labor-intensive.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a machine which imparts a florentine pattern on a gold strip.
A further object of the invention is to provide a machine which automatically applies a florentine pattern on a gold strip by bringing the strip into contact with a serrated, carbide cutting wheel.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a means for creating a florentine pattern on a gold strip from which leaves will be subsequently punched.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.